OPENINGS: THE LONGEST RIDE (20th) tried to counterprogram Furious 7 with a Nicholas Sparks romance, but didn’t even muss the blockbuster’s hair with a $13.5M opening. That’s better than the lousy $10M start for last year’s Sparks adaptation The Best Of Me, and that’s the sum total of the positives in the context of other Sparks openings like The Last Song‘s $16M, Safe Haven‘s $21.4M, and The Lucky One‘s $22.5M, let alone Dear John‘s $30.5M. The one thing Longest Ride has going for it is a free week before The Age of Adeline comes after its audience on April 24.
WOMAN IN GOLD (Weinstein) expanded to a 1504-theatre wide release with a fair $5.9M start. That’s below the $8.5M opening for The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and on a per-theatre basis, its $3900 average is below the $4400 that Philomena averaged when it widened to 835 theatres. However, its aging audience doesn’t throng multiplexes on opening weekend, so it could linger for a while and accumulate a moderate total.
DANNY COLLINS (Bleecker Street) also expanded in search of a non-car-crash audience, but its 739-theatre weekend was weaker at $1.6M, a mediocre $2200 average that was 2d worst in the Top 10. Like Woman In Gold, though, its target audience may keep it around for a while.
HOLDOVERS: With no challengers to speak of, FURIOUS 7 (Universal) had a fine hold for a blockbuster, down 59% for $60.6M, giving it $252.5M in the US. That was better than the 64% Weekend 2 drop for Fast & Furious 6, although that was coming off Memorial Day weekend, so the comparisons aren’t equal. More exciting was the movie’s overseas performance, where it earned an incredible $68.6M in a single day of China release, pacing a $195M international weekend that put it at $550M outside the US and $800.5M worldwide. The question now is how much over $1B it’s going to go–$1.25B is quite possible, which would make it #6 of all time.
It was a long way down to HOME (DreamWorks Animation/20th) in 2d place with $19M, but that movie is benefiting mightily from a lack of new family fare in theatres, down just 30% from last weekend with a $129.6M US total. (Real competition arrives Friday with the Paul Blart sequel.) It added $15.2M overseas for a less exciting $111M total, although there are still some major territories to come.
CINDERELLA (Disney), too, is enjoying a lengthy run, down 29% from last weekend to $7.2M for the weekend and a $180.8M total in the US. Overseas, it added $12.6M for a $256M total, with Japan still to open. It seems very likely to top $500M worldwide, which would put it below Alice in Wonderland‘s $1B and Maleficent‘s $758.4M, but roughly in the same place as Oz The Great and Powerful‘s $493.3M (which cost more to produce).
GET HARD (RatPac Dune/Warners), the only adult comedy around, fell just 34% from last weekend to $8.6M, and with $71.2M in the bank, has a shot at reaching $90M. INSURGENT (Summit/Lionsgate) also held well, down 32% to $6.9M and a $114.8M US total. Overseas, Insurgent took in $7.9M, giving it a $135.3M total that reflects every major territory except China (which wasn’t a very strong market for Divergent). Depending on the China result, Insurgent should reach $300M worldwide, just about the same as Divergent‘s $288.8M despite higher production costs and the addition of premium 3D and IMAX ticket prices.
IT FOLLOWS (Radius/Weinstein) is finally showing the word-of-mouth its studio has been touting from the start, down a mere 19% to $2M. That still gives it a mild $11.8M total, however, and with a new horror movie opening on Friday, it’s still hard to see how the critically-acclaimed thriller can get past $20M.
LIMITED RELEASE: Thinking of critically-acclaimed thrillers, EX MACHINA (A24) had a superb start for an arrival without major stars or a bankable director, averaging $62.5K at 4 NY/LA theatres. A wide release is going to be tricky, but there is sleeper potential here. WHILE WE’RE YOUNG (A24) expanded fairly well to 248 theatres with a $5600 average. That’s better than the $2300 average for Frances Ha when it reached 233 theatres, and on par with the $5600 average Greenberg had at 181 theatres. Despite critical rhapsodies, CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA (IFC) managed a moderate $23.3K average at 3 NY/LA theatres. DESERT DANCER (Relativity) fared much worse with a $1900 average at 23 theatres. WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS (Paladin) continues to hold extremely well, down 15% from last weekend despite losing about 10% of its theatres and with a total of almost $3M so far.
NEXT WEEKEND: Furious 7 still has something of a free pass, as the other studios cater to family audiences with PAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 (Sony/MGM) (which earned $2.6M this weekend in a few European territories) and MONKEY KINGDOM (Disney), and the teen horror crowd with UNFRIENDED (Universal). TRUE STORY (Fox Searchlight) and CHILD 44 (Summit/Lionsgate) will have mid-sized openings in about 500 theatres each.
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